GROUPS OF THE DEAD. 253 the long neck was stretched on the slope, the head on the very top of the parapet, as if still breathing defiance at the foe : "There lay the steed with his nostril all wide, But through it there rolled not the breath of his pride; And cold as the spray of the rock-beating surf." That war-horse would make a figure for a sculptor, almost as striking as the lion of Thorwaldsen; and the State of Tennessee ought to have it wrought in marble or cast in bronze, as a type of the courage of her sons on the field of battle. Hardly less striking than this were the groups scattered far and wide over the field: for the dead lay in heaps, torn to pieces by shot and shell, till they had almost lost the semblance of humanity; with the brave creatures that had carried them into the battle stretched beside them: "Rider and horse, friend and foe, in one red burial blent." In the presence of such awful misery, it seems an unworthy intrusion of human pride to dispute the honors of the day. It is not an hour to boast when thousands of our fellow-beings are lying on the ground in the agonies of death. The object for which the battle was fought—to destroy the Union army-had utterly failed, and so far it was a Union victory. But if only the glory be considered, there is glory enough for all: for never was there a more splendid display of courage and devotion, than in the Confederates who that day sacrificed their lives in vain. The army that fought the battle of Franklin, was not yet quite at the end of its campaign. The last shot had not been fired. Only two weeks later-on the fifteenth of December-it was to have a part in one more battle and one more victory: when the army of Thomas, doubled in strength by that of Schofield, poured forth from Nashville, 254 A LATE CENTENNIAL. and swept all the encircling hills, by which the army of Hood was so completely scattered and destroyed that it virtually ceased to exist, as a force to be taken into account in any future movement. This was the final blow which ended the war in the West, so that General Schofield, with his command, was transferred to the East, and sent by sea to join Sherman in North Carolina; while Grant held fast to Lee. All these movements were linked together, so that a check in one would have been a disaster to all. If Schofield had not "held the fort" at Franklin, Thomas might not have been able to hold it at Nashville, and Hood would have swept through Kentucky to the Ohio; so that all that was being done in Virginia and in the Carolinas, might have been neutralized by a great defeat in Tennessee. All portions of the country were comprised in that splendid strategy, which, manoeuvring over half the Union. in a vast circle winding round and round, and contracting towards a common centre, finally closed in and crushed the Rebellion within its mighty folds. Those were heroic days that should never be forgotten. Since then twenty-five years have passed, and a new generation has come upon the stage that may forget the terrible cost at which the Union was restored, except as it is recalled by some memorable anniversary. But a few months since we looked out of our windows in New York upon the greatest pageant that ever swept through its streets, the celebration of the completion of a hundred years from the foundation of the Government. In that brilliant array the President of the United States was accompanied by all the high officers of State, and representatives of the army and navy. The enthusiasm for these heads of the nation was divided with that for the Southern Governors, some of whom-like Buckner of Kentucky and Gordon of Georgia-had been Generals in the THE BATTLE-FIELD GROWING GREEN. 255 Confederate army, and now appeared leading the troops of their respective States-not as captives in a triumphal procession, but as equal partners in One Country: rejoicing as fully as the North in the immeasurable blessings of a restored Union. At the head of this great procession rode General Schofield, the same who had fought the battle which I have attempted to describe, and who, after a long life of service, has succeeded Grant and Sherman and Sheridan as head of the army of the United States. How could one who had but lately come from the field of Franklin, help thinking with a shudder of what might have been if he had not planned so wisely and stood so firmly, while so many brave men died for their country, on that decisive day a quarter of a century ago! In visiting a battlefield after the lapse of a few years, there is at least this satisfaction, that nature soon obliterates all traces of the passion and the violence of men. The earth drinks up their blood, and the grass grows green again over their graves. As we walked along the line of the intrenchments, I found every trace of them had been destroyed, as the ground has been many times ploughed over. But every Spring, as it is turned up anew, fresh relics are brought to light. My friends picked up a handful of bullets, which they turned over to me, to which I answered that I thought I would take them to General Schofield with the compliments of his Confederate friends, who, as they had not had the opportunity of presenting them when he visited the town on a certain memorable occasion, would make amends for this neglect by presenting them now. The gallant Major charged me especially to say how glad they were that they had not been presented on the appointed day! This duty I performed on my arrival in Washington. The General re 256 HEARTS YEARN TO BE KNIT AGAIN. ceived them with a smile, and as he took them in his hand, pointed out the peculiar shape of each ball, which showed whether it had been fired by friend or foe, and kept specimens of each, as interesting and harmless souvenirs of a great event, not only in his own life, but in American history. General Schofield said that after the war he had a great desire to see General Hood, and renew the acquaintance which they had in the old days, when they were four years side by side at West Point. Hood had settled down in New Orleans. Schofield wrote to him several times to come on to the meeting of his old classmates. But he never came. In his last letter he said: "To tell the truth, I have ten children to provide for, which takes all my time and care." The reason did honor to the soldier's heart. These were soon to be left without father or mother: for both died within a few days of each other, and the eldest daughter a few hours after her father. A blow so sudden and so terrible enlisted great sympathy at the South, where every heart and every home was open to those who were thus doubly orphaned. Nor was it in the South only, but in the North also, where more than one were taken into the closest relations, as if they were of the same blood. So is it that an unnatural alienation is sometimes followed by a reaction of feeling, which in its return causes an overflow of affection and kindness. Especially when the grave has closed over the heroic dead, old strifes give place to kindly memories, and flowers blossom out of the dust. Severed hearts yearn to be knit again, and hands long withdrawn are stretched out once more; and, though it may be only in the next generation, new affections spring up, and sweet household ties come in, to bind all together. CHAPTER XVII. VISIT TO THE HOME OF ANDREW JACKSON. Next to the scene of the battle of Franklin, the one place in the neighborhood of Nashville which I desired to see, was the Hermitage, the home of Andrew Jackson. When I was a boy, I can just remember his election as the President of the United States. During the two terms of his administration, and for years after, he was the greatest political power in the country: indeed it is doubtful if any man from the time of Washington to the opening of the Civil War, filled a larger space in the public eye. He is a very picturesque figure in American history. He was not of the ordinary run of politicians-smooth-tongued and "all things to all men"; but a man original and unique, a product of nature rather than of education. A child of poverty, he came up in the backwoods, like some prodigious growth of the forest. Without the polish of society, he had a natural courage and force of will that put him at the head of the rough communities of the border, from which the force of circumstances pushed him on till he reached the highest position in national affairs. A man who has acted such a part in his generation, is a subject of interest to the student of history, and hence the |